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Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Weekly Roundup

News of the Geek

17-year-old Afghan boxer to compete in the Olympics. Oh, and she's also a woman, making her only the third woman ever to represent Afghanistan in the Olympics. While things are 100% better for female Afghan athletes (or Afghan women in general) yet, it's improving. Under the Taliban, when in Afghanistan couldn't even participate in sports, and now three of them are representing the country in the Olympics.

Also in time for Valentine's Day, the letters of Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Robert Browning are now available online. Elizabeth's family didn't want her to marry Robert, to the point that her father forbade it. So they ran off to Italy to marry and her very wealthy father disinherited her. But she didn't care; all she wanted was Robert. They spent a lifetime writing some of the most touching and poignant love letters ever composed.

I love your verses with all my heart, dear Miss Barrett,-and this is no off-hand complimentary letter that I shall write,-whatever else, no prompt matter-of-course recognition of your genius and there a graceful and natural end of the thing: since the day last week when I first read your poems, I quite laugh to remember how I have been turning and turning again in my mind what I should be able to tell you of their effect upon me-for in the first flush of delight I thought I would this once get out of my habit of purely passive enjoyment, when I do really enjoy, and thoroughly justify my admiration-perhaps even, as a loyal fellow-craftsman should, try and find fault and do you some little good to be proud of hereafter!-but nothing comes of it all-so into me has it gone, and part of me has it become, this great living poetry of yours, not a flower of which but took root and grew...

This is a typical Chris Brown supporter on Twitter. This makes me so sad.He beat Rihanna so severely, he put her in the hospital, and there are people in the world who are totally okay with that because he’s a famous musician. Well, I am not one of those people. Violence against women is never, ever, ever okay. Chris Brown should be shunned from public life, as should all batterers.

The point is, this idea is a terrible one even at face value. People tolerate gambling because, you know, there's a chance at real money. People tolerate random drops for instances because you can run them again -- and as the years have gone on, game designers have realized that even that doesn't really fix the problem, hence the growing number of games that give you currencies to help offset any and all loot gaps. The idea of selling a player an item that might contain what said player wants is an exercise in terrible thinking, combining the worst aspect of two systems into some sort of Ruination Fairy.

When the fuck was it decided that we should start teaching our daughters to accept being belittled, disrespected and abused as endearing treatment? And we have the audacity to wonder why women stay in abusive relationships? How did society become so oblivious to the fact that we were conditioning our daughters to endure abusive treatment, much less view it as romantic overtures? Is this where the phrase “hitting on girls” comes from? Well, here is a tip: Save the “it’s so cute when he gets hateful/physical with her because it means he loves her” asshattery for your own kids, not mine. While you’re at it, keep them away from my kids until you decide to teach them respect and boundaries.

YOU are beautiful. Period. Lately there have been a lot of stupid images going around Facebook and other social media outlets that feature really thin women and women who are more on the national average. They say things like "When did this (thin women) become hotter than this (average women)?" or "Bones are for the dog. Meat is for the man." Supposedly they're supposed to be empowering, but it's just trading one kind of misogyny for another.

But some women have skinny bodies. Some are curvy. Some are fat. Some are tall. Some are…all kinds of things in between. And when I hear women tear other women down because they happen to meet some conventional standard of beauty, I have to wonder…how is this better? We’re always crying “oh poor us, society has this unrealistic standard that we just can’t meet!” Then, we turn around and do it to each other all over again.

Not a read, but this is a great video of the best "I Love You" moments from Hollywood:

Geek confession - I am not a Joss Whedon fan. No I didn't like Buffy, no I've never seen Firefly/Serenity, yes I liked Dr. Horrible. I don't hate him, but I don't get the same thing out of his work that others do. However, this is all kinds of awesome, and I thank my friend Ben for sharing it: